Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2017 to Question 111391, on business: ICT, what recent representations he has received from business organisations on ensuring that the Government's digital transformation programmes are affordable for (a) small and medium-sized enterprises, (b) micro businesses and (c) charities.

Government’s strategy concerning digital transformation - the Government Transformation Strategy - sets out the strategy for transforming government to make it meet the expectations and needs of users, including those of small and medium-sized enterprises, micro businesses and charities. Government carries out user research with relevant stakeholders in the development of major services to ensure they meet user needs and capabilities. This will include small and medium-sized enterprises, micro businesses and charities when they are users of the service.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has now chaired two meetings of the Digital Economy Council, which brings together leaders from the tech sector with government. Access to finance is one of the areas of discussion. The Council will drive progress on the Digital Strategy, such as stimulating growth and delivering new jobs in the digital economy.

My hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Digital will be chairing his second Digital Economy Advisory Group at the end of the year. The Advisory Group specifically focusses on supporting the tech sectors and helping innovation. Both groups will focus on the implementation of the Digital Strategy, along with feeding in to the development of the Digital Charter.

Both of the above groups are concerned with access to finance for businesses of all sizes and across sectors. Membership of these groups includes: TechUK, Google, BT, Raspberry Pi and Entrepreneur First. Full membership details can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/groups/digital-economy-council-and-digital-economy-advisory-group

My right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, in a Written Ministerial Statement on 13 July 2017, announced changes to the scope and pace of Making Tax Digital for Business in response to representations received from a range of businesses. These changes mean that use of the Making Tax Digital system will be optional for businesses below the VAT threshold.